The real reason LEGO Marvel 76178 Daily Bugle can connect to other modular buildings

The designer behind LEGO Marvel 76178 Daily Bugle has revealed why the soaring skyscraper is able to connect to the modular buildings.

If you’ve paid close attention to the official images of the newly-announced 761778 Daily Bugle – which comes in as the biggest LEGO Marvel set of all time, in both height and piece count – you’ll know that buried in the surroundings of the model’s base are 1×2 bricks with Technic holes.

Those are exactly the elements employed first and foremost by the Modular Buildings Collection to allow each structure to seamlessly connect to the next, and which have also been adopted by ‘modular-adjacent’ sets like this year’s 80107 Spring Lantern Festival and 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens – and now, 76178 Daily Bugle.

That means you should be able to smoothly slide 76178 Daily Bugle into your existing layout of LEGO modular buildings without any major modifications – but if you’re up to the task, redressing the concrete skyscraper is actually exactly what designer Mark Stafford has in mind.

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Writing in a recent reddit Q&A, the mastermind behind the most minifigure-heavy LEGO Marvel set to date confirmed that the pieces were intended to make 76178 Daily Bugle match the modular buildings, but not necessarily as it comes straight out of the box.

“A couple of [the modular buildings] look like New York brownstones so I figured an easy conversion into the law offices of Nelson and Murdock could be made,” Mark explained. That wasn’t the only reason he added the 1×2 bricks that allow for those connections, however.

“I thought it would annoy Jamie Berard to see one of his beautiful modular buildings next to this 1960s concrete box, so I had to do it,” the designer continued. If you’d like to see how that clash of styles bears out in reality, click here to see 76178 Daily Bugle lined up next to 10278 Police Station, 10270 Bookshop, 10260 Downtown Diner and 10264 Corner Garage.

For more on 76178 Daily Bugle, check out why it’s Mark’s dream LEGO set, and how his original list of characters ballooned beyond the set’s final 25 minifigures.

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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